Sunday, June 26, 2011

On my way home from work yesterday I figured I’d better fill up for cheap gas at Murphy USA, just outside of Walmart. It’s a few miles from work and typically the cheapest in town. Since I always shop at Walmart, it’s a natural stop for me.

I documented the gas station prices between my work and Murphy USA and aside from one other gas station, they were the cheapest. The Holiday gas station was the same price.I was turning my phone on as I left work, listening to messages and I completely spaced that the short road to my work is shared with a gas station! I have no clue what it was going for. So, that meant my first stop was about 1/2 a mile away at SuperAmerica. Their price was $3.59/gallon. The only thing I have to say about SA is that on Tuesdays they double coupons and take competitor coupons! At least on Tuesdays they’re cheaper than any other gas station in town.Next I headed a couple blocks down to Cenex. They’re on a frontage road and their gas was the same as SuperAmerica at $3.59/gallon. A nice perk they have at Cenex is the old fashioned way of the attendant coming out and pumping your gas for you. Now, I have to say, in the dead of a Minnesota winter, it’s worth giving a tip to have someone stand in the biting cold, filling up your gas tank!Off I headed to get my gas and see if I needed anything from inside. I was in a hurry because there was so much to do to get ready for our upcoming weekend. As I was pumping the gas I saw that they had a Buy 2 Pepsi products get 1 FREE. Got me thinking about our trip to take Doodle to camp on Sunday. These long drives have us stopping at least once to pick up a snack and bottle of pop. I decided to cut out that stop and grab the pop while I was there.While getting the gas, I noticed an advertisement of their QR code. You can scan their code or visit http://social.murphyusa.com for more savings! I thought it was so cool that they had a featured Member. The blue circle in the bottom right corner is a FourSquare check in Special! I’ve checked in there before with a different Android app that is no longer in existence so now I’ll have to get some specials by checking in with FourSquare!
One of the nice perks, that I always forget until I’ve gotten my gas, is if you use a Walmart Credit Card you get 5 cents off/gallon and with a Walmart MoneyCard or Walmart Shopping Card you get 3 cents off/gallon! I have purchased a Walmart Shopping Card a couple of times specifically for this purpose. Easy way to save a few pennies here and there!
I headed in and explained to the clerk what I was up to because I wanted to take a picture inside the little shop. I showed her the email I received from Collective Bias because I was in my work shirt and she was concerned that I was shopping the competition. Too bad there wasn’t a power tool in sight because it might’ve been an option. Once she realized I was on the up and up she let me take my photo.As I was paying, she realized I was using the camera on my phone and asked me if I had taken a photo with the car that had been pumping a couple pumps over. Apparently they’d just had a drive off! A crime happened right in front of my face and guess what? I didn’t get one photo of her car in it! I was trying to purposely keep everything out of my photos unless it had to do with Murphy USA!

The funny thing was, the gal really got my attention. Her phone rang while she was there and it sounded like she was talking to a “client”. I only say that because of how odd the conversation was. Trust me, she wasn’t a quiet woman. I took note of her car, because I love cars and just happened to check it out. I had driven around a different pump as I was getting ready to head inside and as I went to take a photo, I watched her drive behind me. All this watching I’m doing and I have no clue what’s about to happen.

I did look through my photos as I was there, but alas I had no evidence for her. Thankfully they have surveillance there and will be able to get the gal’s license plate.As I headed out of town, a couple blocks away from Murphy USA, is the last light as you leave. At that 4 way corner is a Holiday Station. I rarely go there because of their location. It’s a pain to get out of during rush hour. Then you have to time it right or you sit at the light for ages! Their gas prices were the same as Murphy USA.

My one pet peeve about gas stations is how large their tobacco ads are. Right smack dab on the top of each gas pump were large signs promoting tobacco. I didn’t take photos because I didn’t want to promote it on my blog. I’m sure it’s a big money maker, but I’d rather not see them larger than life as the main ad over the gas pumps.
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Do you shop around for cheaper gas? Do you have one gas station in your area that you like particularly?*This shop/project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All views/opinions are my own and are never influenced by the company.

That's crazy that they had a drive by. Sad too....I really do like filling up at Murphy here in our town, mainly because I know the manager, and she's really super nice....but also because it's usually pretty convenient for us.

The two gas stations that are the most convenient for me--at the bottom of my hill and next to the parking lot at school are also usually about .05 per gallon more than the other stations (not counting the "We are rich and we don't care how much we have to pay" gas station in San Marino). I avoid the cheapest (ARCO) because they only accept cash or debit and it usually takes about $65 to fill our truck and I won't put a debit card into a gas station machine.

So...I go to another station that is a bit out of the way but it is usually a quick in and out.

By the way, I was elated to have price drop down to $4.89 in my Los Angeles neighborhood when I bought it yesterday. I would LOVE to pay your prices!